A question for TechNet subscribers

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Catweazle

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Question asked purely out of curiosity. I've been using the TechNet library for a helluva long time, but never really bothered taking up a subscription until now, or looking more closely at the subscriber benefits.


Browsing the Downloads section I've noticed that, for current and previous OS versions, there are numerous different downloads listed. Original release ISOs, Service Pack integrated ISOs, other version and license type ISOs etc etc...


How does that all work?

  • Do some of those not appear available for download with a, for example, current 'Direct' subscription.
  • Do things such as the 'N' versions not appear unless you are located within the region they are relevent to?
  • Does the downloading of different ISOs get accompanied by the issuing of separate keys?


Just curious is all. I'll find out for myself soon enough I guess, when my subscription is processed and becomes active. But it's better to get an answer when the question becomes apparent than it is to wait for an answer :D
 
Each version of whatever product you're interested in typically has a set of keys associated with it, so for example Windows 7 Ultimate (regardless of service pack) will always use the same pool of 10 keys you're allotted with the subscription, and so on, at least that's how it's been in my years of having TechNet subs. Windows 7 Ultimate-E more than likely has a different pool of keys, as each E version of the OS, but that remains to be seen until it's actually up for download.

iirc, the N versions are also listed and available even in the US; my current TechNet sub lapsed a few weeks ago and I missed out on the big discounts of late, so I'll more than likely resubscribe in the next week or so depending on how things go.

The only things that I believe won't appear are OSes prior to XP because of the Java lawsuit that Sun and Microsoft ended up finally settling over. 95 (all editions), 98, 98SE, WinME, and Windows 2000 all had some aspects of that Java virtual machine in them and so they've been relegated to the "scrap heap," more or less, and no longer directly provided by Microsoft at all.
 
Joe Average said:
The only things that I believe won't appear are OSes prior to XP because of the Java lawsuit that Sun and Microsoft ended up finally settling over. 95 (all editions), 98, 98SE, WinME, and Windows 2000 all had some aspects of that Java virtual machine in them and so they've been relegated to the "scrap heap," more or less, and no longer directly provided by Microsoft at all.
Click to expand...
:(

I've always wondered why they never appeared in any of the MSDN or TechNet subs I've seen. Now I know.

98SE would be a really fun OS to have in a VM. Not as useless and deprecated as Windows 3.11, but still with plenty of nostalgia value.
 
Oh! Nearly forgot to say "Thanks" for that.

It was an interesting question to ponder, and the answer makes perfect sense to me. Additional keys for those alternative downloads would mean a hulluva lot of keys/installs. Anyone using that many would surely have to be either abusing the system or else so dumb that they didn't realise an unactivated install is perfectly adequate for short term use!

The comment regarding Win9x and Win2000 answers another question I was pondering as well. Thanks for that, too.
 
Joe Average said:
Each version of whatever product you're interested in typically has a set of keys associated with it, so for example Windows 7 Ultimate (regardless of service pack) will always use the same pool of 10 keys you're allotted with the subscription, and so on, at least that's how it's been in my years of having TechNet subs. Windows 7 Ultimate-E more than likely has a different pool of keys, as each E version of the OS, but that remains to be seen until it's actually up for download.

iirc, the N versions are also listed and available even in the US; my current TechNet sub lapsed a few weeks ago and I missed out on the big discounts of late, so I'll more than likely resubscribe in the next week or so depending on how things go.

The only things that I believe won't appear are OSes prior to XP because of the Java lawsuit that Sun and Microsoft ended up finally settling over. 95 (all editions), 98, 98SE, WinME, and Windows 2000 all had some aspects of that Java virtual machine in them and so they've been relegated to the "scrap heap," more or less, and no longer directly provided by Microsoft at all.
Click to expand...

Joe, forgive me for being kinda slow, but does that mean 10 keys for Windows 7 Ultimate and 10 different keys for Windows 7 Professional? So, in theory you could install a different key on 20 machines with those two versions?
 
Yes, I haven't checked on keys for a while, but I am pretty sure, at least with Vista, that I have multiple keys for each version.
 
GreenGoose said:
Joe, forgive me for being kinda slow, but does that mean 10 keys for Windows 7 Ultimate and 10 different keys for Windows 7 Professional? So, in theory you could install a different key on 20 machines with those two versions?
Click to expand...

Yes.
 
Joe Average said:
Windows 7 Ultimate-E more than likely has a different pool of keys, as each E version of the OS, but that remains to be seen until it's actually up for download. iirc, the N versions are also listed and available even in the US
Click to expand...
It does... I just checked and Vista-N is on here as a seperate download, so it appears to not be region aware.

Joe Average said:
The only things that I believe won't appear are OSes prior to XP because of the Java lawsuit that Sun and Microsoft ended up finally settling over. 95 (all editions), 98, 98SE, WinME, and Windows 2000 all had some aspects of that Java virtual machine in them and so they've been relegated to the "scrap heap," more or less, and no longer directly provided by Microsoft at all.
Click to expand...
Yep. You've got DOS and 3.11, then it skips up to XP.

You've also got SBS, EBS, Storage Server, BizTalk, Exchange, ISA, Sharepoint, SQL, etc... Alot of stuff.

Even though there is an absolute CRAP-TON of software on there, it's not a full set, either. It's most of the popular stuff though. For most people, Office, Server, and Windows are the "Big 3" that they grab.

I don't see a complete listing for anyone that's not a subscriber, this is as close as I could find: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/downloads/bb892756.aspx
 
Uhmmm... yep. Every product listed on TechNet is considered a standalone product, hence different keys for each product; Windows 7 Home Basic is one product, so 10 keys, Home Premium is another so 10 more keys, Pro, 10 keys, Ultimate, 10 keys, etc etc.
 
Joe Average said:
Uhmmm... yep. Every product listed on TechNet is considered a standalone product, hence different keys for each product; Windows 7 Home Basic is one product, so 10 keys, Home Premium is another so 10 more keys, Pro, 10 keys, Ultimate, 10 keys, etc etc.
Click to expand...

This is what is some massively awesome about these subscriptions. Yes, I know, EULA. But... 10 keys for everything that never expire? I mean come on!;)
 
heatlesssun said:
This is what is some massively awesome about these subscriptions. Yes, I know, EULA. But... 10 keys for everything that never expire? I mean come on!;)
Click to expand...

I should add a caveat to that: the server products, Windows Server 2003, Server 2008, and Windows Home Server only get 1 key per product - forgot to mention that previously...
 
Joe Average said:
I should add a caveat to that: the server products, Windows Server 2003, Server 2008, and Windows Home Server only get 1 key per product - forgot to mention that previously...
Click to expand...

Don't you get only one key but 10 activations? With MSDN you only get one key for each product with 10 activations.
 
I couldn't answer that as I've never acquired a server product with my previous TechNet subs, perhaps someone else would know. But it's just one Product Key per server product...
 
heatlesssun said:
With MSDN you only get one key for each product with 10 activations.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's not true.

msdn.jpg
 
FromTheLou said:
Yeah, that's not true.
Click to expand...

How's that not true? He said 1 key, 10 activations.

That's true.

MSDN and Technet give you 10 Activations per key.
So Server 2003: 10 Activations (1keyx10activations)
Vista: 100 Activations (10keysx10activations)

etc
 
To be honest MSDN is well lets say, at least in my 13 years of experience with MSDN a little liberal with the counts. Has anyone ever installed XP or Vista and hit a hard count of 10 activations. I've never seen it and as many times as I've installed XP using my first XP keys back in 2001, let's just say it was more than 10. Just curious.
 
TechieSooner said:
How's that not true? He said 1 key, 10 activations.

That's true.

MSDN and Technet give you 10 Activations per key.
So Server 2003: 10 Activations (1keyx10activations)
Vista: 100 Activations (10keysx10activations)

etc
Click to expand...

Did you even look at the picture? I have 2 keys for Win2k3 Standard, with the ability to request more. That second key I requested right before I took the screen shot.

So when he said that with MSDN you get 1 key per product, I said that isn't true. The picture proves that.
 
FromTheLou said:
Yeah, that's not true.

*SNIP*
Click to expand...

And what is that suppose to proof? Looks just like my Technet page. Lets me get up to 10 keys and no clue how many times I can activate before I have to call them nice folks in India.
 
Wow, ok let me try and explain this one last time.

heatlesssun: With MSDN you only get one key for each product with 10 activations.
FromTheLou: That is wrong. Look at this screenshot that shows more than 1 key for a product

He stated that you only get one key for each product. Which is false. I'm not talking about activations here, I'm strictly talking about the amount keys you get per product.

Understand?
 
FromTheLou said:
Wow, ok let me try and explain this one last time.

heatlesssun: With MSDN you only get one key for each product with 10 activations.
FromTheLou: That is wrong. Look at this screenshot that shows more than 1 key for a product

He stated that you only get one key for each product. Which is false. I'm not talking about activations here, I'm strictly talking about the amount keys you get per product.

Understand?
Click to expand...

You are correct, you can request more than one key per product. Am I correct in saying that you get 10 activations per key?

I've being using MSDN for 13 years and I really haven't a clue how this really plays out. I've NEVER seen any type of limit. Now I've never installed anything more than 10 times at once but have reinstalled certain products, lets just say more than 10 times and on more than 10 machines. But only for myself!
 
heatlesssun said:
You are correct, you can request more than one key per product. Am I correct in saying that you get 10 activations per key?

I've being using MSDN for 13 years and I really haven't a clue how this really plays out. I've NEVER seen any type of limit. Now I've never installed anything more than 10 times at once but have reinstalled certain products, lets just say more than 10 times and on more than 10 machines. But only for myself!
Click to expand...

I should have specified in my first post, what I thought was wrong about your post. But to answer your question, I have no idea about the amount of activations per key. But based on what MS has said, I would say that you are correct.

I know that MS has posted that you get 10, but as others have stated they are pretty loose with that. I've activated that first product key prolly 7 or 8 times in the last couple of years.
 
FromTheLou said:
I should have specified in my first post, what I thought was wrong about your post. But to answer your question, I have no idea about the amount of activations per key. But based on what MS has said, I would say that you are correct.

I know that MS has posted that you get 10, but as others have stated they are pretty loose with that. I've activated that first product key prolly 7 or 8 times in the last couple of years.
Click to expand...

I've asked this question MANY times over the years and everyone is confused. It's like asking how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootise roll pop.

I think that this is by design. MSDN and TechNet go to Microsoft's most loyal and important customer base and I think they know where their bread is buttered and they return the favor.
 
If you are a Technet sub. and you end your sub. do your keys become invalid?
 
If that is the case, then there seems to be little reason to not get a technet subscription. Especially if you have multiple computers and when you consider MS Office 2010. Is my read correct?
 
1186 said:
If that is the case, then there seems to be little reason to not get a technet subscription. Especially if you have multiple computers and when you consider MS Office 2010. Is my read correct?
Click to expand...

Yes. As long as you use it for testing.
 
I finally purchased myself a technet sub yesterday and was wondering if anyone could answer this question. If i used a key on one machine and then reformated that one machine 10 times using that same key, would that qualify as 10 activations or 1 activation?
 
Activation is tied to a specific hash created by an algorithm in the activation computation engine (complicated, but true). The algorithm takes a bunch of parts in the PC (the mobo, the processor, video card, etc etc) and computes a checksum based on the given components and then sends that to Microsoft's activation servers - that code is unique, and basically impossible to duplicate because it also includes the time of day, the date, how long the PC has been up and running, etc etc.

1 in Infinity is about the percentage that it'll ever be duplicated, even if you had two machines comprised of the exact same hardware trying to activate at the same time using the same Product Key you'd end up with two entirely different checksums...

So, the basic gist is that activation ties the Product Key to that specific machine - and as TechNet's Retail keys provide you with 10 activations per key (that's what they say, at least), then that means 10 reinstallations on the same hardware platform, and the activation should go through without any issues.

But if you change some hardware, most especially the motherboard itself, when you attempt an activation it'll snag because a major component of that original checksum hash is now altered.

If you have a need to reactivate 10 times or more on the same machine, if you hit that snag in the process, a phone call to Microsoft with your explanation will be enough to gain a new key to use for 10 more activations, etc - but in the process, your original Product Key, the one that started this whole process, would then become permanently de-activated, never to be used again (it wouldn't activate past that point ever again).

Hope that clears some of it up...
 
Joe Average said:
Activation is tied to a specific hash created by an algorithm in the activation computation engine (complicated, but true). The algorithm takes a bunch of parts in the PC (the mobo, the processor, video card, etc etc) and computes a checksum based on the given components and then sends that to Microsoft's activation servers - that code is unique, and basically impossible to duplicate because it also includes the time of day, the date, how long the PC has been up and running, etc etc.

1 in Infinity is about the percentage that it'll ever be duplicated, even if you had two machines comprised of the exact same hardware trying to activate at the same time using the same Product Key you'd end up with two entirely different checksums...

So, the basic gist is that activation ties the Product Key to that specific machine - and as TechNet's Retail keys provide you with 10 activations per key (that's what they say, at least), then that means 10 reinstallations on the same hardware platform, and the activation should go through without any issues.

But if you change some hardware, most especially the motherboard itself, when you attempt an activation it'll snag because a major component of that original checksum hash is now altered.

If you have a need to reactivate 10 times or more on the same machine, if you hit that snag in the process, a phone call to Microsoft with your explanation will be enough to gain a new key to use for 10 more activations, etc - but in the process, your original Product Key, the one that started this whole process, would then become permanently de-activated, never to be used again (it wouldn't activate past that point ever again).

Hope that clears some of it up...
Click to expand...

When I signed up for Technet last year, the document was worded in a way that indicated that one key was used up to 10 times and then you could request another one if you needed more than that 10 times. There was nothing about 10 times on the same hardware, or having to get another key to use on another machine. Has that changed in the last year?
 
There's one way for someone to find out... <hint, hint> :p

As for the key thing that went awry above, MSDN doesn't have the "1 key per server product" limitation that a TechNet Plus Direct subscription does. The basic $349 (without discount) TechNet Plus Direct subscription will give you one key per server-class product in my experience. I just checked (as I re-did my subscription on Thursday morning) and I am allowed 1 key for: Server 2003 x86/x64 and the upcoming Server 2008 x64, as well as 1 key for Windows Home Server. After I generate the one key, I get no more options for more.

MSDN is way different in that respect...
 
Hmmm, so the software on TechNet requires activation? I was hoping for Volume License copies that don't.

Still, looks like a cool service. Once I'm convinced that I want to buy Windows 7, I'll probably go this route. If I could get the latest Visual Studio this way, that'd be awesome too.
 
Volume Licensing is an option on some subscriptions, but not the most basic TechNet Plus Direct which is what everyone has been all over the past few weeks/months. The far more expensive TechNet subscriptions can provide volume licensing products, but for the "grunt" accounts, forget it.

Visual Studio is considered one of their development products, so it's on MSDN and not TechNet.
 
Joe Average said:
Volume Licensing is an option on some subscriptions, but not the most basic TechNet Plus Direct which is what everyone has been all over the past few weeks/months. The far more expensive TechNet subscriptions can provide volume licensing products, but for the "grunt" accounts, forget it.

Visual Studio is considered one of their development products, so it's on MSDN and not TechNet.
Click to expand...

I'm still not sure I understand the Enterprise key. Seems strange that they give multiple keys for every version, except Enterprise. For that one, they give you one key with multiple activations.
 
nilepez said:
I'm still not sure I understand the Enterprise key. Seems strange that they give multiple keys for every version, except Enterprise. For that one, they give you one key with multiple activations.
Click to expand...

Well Enterprise is typically used in a VLK situation... So, companies press together their images of Windows, and that's that.

Enterprise actually doesn't even require activation, IIRC...
 
TechieSooner said:
Well Enterprise is typically used in a VLK situation... So, companies press together their images of Windows, and that's that.

Enterprise actually doesn't even require activation, IIRC...
Click to expand...

For vista, as I recall, there is a separate VLK version of the enterprise edition.

They may not require activation, but I'm pretty sure VLK requiers some sort of a in house key verifier. They made a change to stop the VLK abuse that occurred with XP.
 
Here is a question that I'd like to know, I now am using Win7 Ultimate from technet, now say later on I decide I want to use the machine for business, can I just buy a OEM or retail copy then change the key without having to reinstall everything? It would suck to have to reinstall everything on a working machine that you customized over several months just to change the dam product key.
 
LurkerLito said:
Here is a question that I'd like to know, I now am using Win7 Ultimate from technet, now say later on I decide I want to use the machine for business, can I just buy a OEM or retail copy then change the key without having to reinstall everything? It would suck to have to reinstall everything on a working machine that you customized over several months just to change the dam product key.
Click to expand...
You can change the Product Key, but to change the TYPE of install (Ultimate versus Business) requires a clean install, or at least it did in Vista. Plus, I don't think you can change serials downwards.
 
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